Pasta and a Meat Sauce

Ingredients  

1	Onion, chopped
1 tbsp	Olive Oil
1 lb	90% Lean Ground Beef
1	small green bell pepper, diced
28 ox	Diced Tomatoes
4	Cloves of Garlic, minced
16 oz	Tomato Sauce
8 oz	Tomato Paste
2 tbsp	Oregano
1 tsp	Salt
1/2 tsp	Ground Black Pepper
2 tsp	Basil
11/2 cups	Beef Broth

Method  

Combine ground beef, onion, garlic, 

and (green) pepper in a large saucepan. 

Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain grease.

Stir diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. 

Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. 

Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

After the sauce has started simmering, start a pot of water, lightly salted, on high heat to get it to boiling. Once there turn it down enough to keep it bubbling.

Then take your pasta, prepare it if needed, and add it to the boiling water. Follow the cooking instructions for the pasta, trying to time it to be ready a little before the sauce.

Bueno Appetito !!

Pasta and Meat!!

Meat and Pasta 

Thanks to Katie Workman (themom100.com) for this one!

• 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound fresh pork sausage squeezed from the casing
• 1 ½ cups chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Big glug or two of red or white wine if you have a bottle open 
• 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes preferably in puree
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional

• In a large saucepot, heat one tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add both the ground beef and the sausage together and cook, stirring frequently, and breaking up the meat so that it’s very crumbly and browned throughout, about 4 to 6 minutes.  Turn it into a strainer and let it the fat drain off.
• Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the same pot over medium heat (don’t clean it!  All those little bits of flavor from the meat will season the sauce). Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, oregano and basil and cook, stirring for 2 more minutes, until you can smell the garlic and herbs. Add the wine, if using, and stir for one more minute, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom, until the wine pretty much evaporates.
• Add the canned tomatoes and red pepper flakes if using, and stir to combine everything.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the browned meat, lower the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes.  Taste, and season gently with the salt and pepper (the sausages provide a whole lot of seasoning). 

Chili

Ingredients

 

1	Medium Yellow Onion, Diced
1 tbsp	Olive Oil
1 lb	90% Lean Ground Beef
1/2 tbsp	Chili Powder
2 tbsp	Ground Cumin
2 tbsp	Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp	Tomato Paste
1 tbsp	Garlic Powder
1 1/2 tsp	Salt
1/2 tsp	Ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp	Ground Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 cups	Beef Broth
16 oz	Canned Petite Diced tomatoes
16 oz	Canned Red Kidney Beans, Drained and Rinsed
8 oz	Canned Tomato Sauce

 

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. 
2. Add diced onion and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add ground beef and break it apart with a wooden spoon.
4. Cook for 6-7 minutes.
5. Add chili powder, cumin, sugar, tomato paste, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and optional cayenne. 
6. Stir until well combined.
7. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, beef broth, and tomato sauce.
8. Stir well.
9. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
10. Let the chili rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Cooking Sweet Corn in America

 Some friends collected these suggestions. I'll add photos as I get to doing them.....

Corn on the cob season: from scratch, for total, total, total amateurs. No reason you can't enjoy fresh corn cooked by the best method ever.

Get an iron skillet with a lid. Or any skillet and use tinfoil laid atop if you have no lid.

Strip leaves and silk from the ears. Break in half or cut them into 4" pieces so they'll cook more evenly. If you use a knife, use a big one and press from the top of the blade with your fingers nowhere near the edge: corn cobs are tough and they roll. Breaking is safer.

Heat skillet on medium high with olive oil, Crisco, any oil you like.

sprinkle salt and pepper onto oil as it heats.

Add the corn bits, cover. Every few minutes, poke them with a fork and roll them over. When browned on all sides, they're done.

Remove from heat.

Turn off heat.

Serve.

( Cj Cherryh )

Turn oven on 400, trim silk end of corn cob right to the tip. Pull outer husk off and trim husk end. Pop straight on to the oven rack (centered) and roast for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool until easy to touch. Strip off husks (the silks come off better than any other method I have used). Roll in butter and eat.

( Paula Pearson )

I like to make it by smearing on a rub of mayo, butter, olive oil and garlic, coriander, and theme, cilantro whatever is on hand onto a clean ear of corn. Putting the corn on foil, I smear ithe rub all over it, then tightly wrap the foil around it, then wrap a second piece of foil around that. Onto a foil-lined cookie sheet, then into a 350° oven for 20-40 minutes depending on size of corn. Whatever spices you like. Some people add cojita cheese. Delicious!

( Cheryl Wolder )

Set an oven to 350-400. Put corn, unshucked, in a single layer on the oven rack. Let roast an hour or so. Done and delicious. No need to soak beforehand. Great if you are cooking something else in the oven at the same time. So much easier than boiling a pot of water for a dozen people. Everyone shucks their own ears at the end (and use the husks to hold on to when eating the corn.)

( Christine Valada )

Bot Appetit !!

Some Italian Food.

Italian Sausage and Chestnut Dinner

Normally I cook things here that I've actually eaten, liked, eaten again, and then made my own version of. Very seldom do I just find a recipe and cook it for friends. On this occasion, however, I wanted to be rid of some bags of cooked-and-part-dried chestnuts that had been hanging around the kitchen since I used them for stuffing a pork loin for last Easter. The blog was posted on 7/15/2019 and called "Stuffed Pork Tenderloin".

So, I bought a 1 lb tube of sausage-meat to go with two of the packets of chestnuts, and collected all of the other ingredients from the pantry and set about cooking!

Ingredients

1 lb	Sausage meat
2/3 lb	Chestnuts, sold cooked and bagged
4 cloves	Minced Garlic
2 tbsp	Rosemary
3 tbsp	Fennel
2 tbsp	Chopped Parsley
1	large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp	olive oil
To Taste	Salt and Pepper
Garnish	Parmesan Cheese
Paste	Fusilli. About a pound for 3 people

Method

Put the pasta on to cook in plenty of salted water, following pack instructions.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and fry the onion for 5 mins, until it is getting soft. Once starting to soften, add the sausage meat and chestnuts, and fry for another 10-12 mins, breaking the meat up with a wooden spatula or spoon as you fry it. Keep the heat quite high and stir often.

When the meat and chestnuts are golden brown, add the garlic, rosemary and fennel seeds, and cook for 2 mins more. Cover and simmer the sauce for 10 mins while you finish cooking the pasta.

Season to taste with parsley and parmesan cheese and, of course, salt and pepper and serve. 

Recommended: a glass of good red wine goes well with this!
Sorry that there aren't any pictures this time - it all got eaten too quickly!

Spicy Sausage Ragout


Ingredients

1 lb	Pork sausages.
1 each	Red, Yellow, Green peppers, sliced thinly
2 cloves	Minced Garlic
2 tbsp	Paprika
3 tbsp	Fennel Seeds
1/2 lb	Can of Chopped Tomatoes
1	large onion, sliced
2 tbsp	olive oil
To Taste	Salt and Pepper
Garnish	Parmesan Cheese
Paste	Fusilli. About a pound for 3 people

Method

Put the pasta on to cook in plenty of salted water, following pack instructions.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the sausages until well done (not burned!).

Remove the sausages; add the onion and cook until soft

Add the peppers and cook for about another 6-8 minutes. stir in all the other ingredients and let simmer - probably for at least 10 minutes.

Cut the sausages into bite-size pieces and return to the (now quite full) pan to heat up again

More description and pictures to come ....

------------------------- Eventually ! -------------------------